Pressure on as minister talks tough on delivery
Water & sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu says most of the country’s district and local municipalities struggle to supply adequate water and sanitation services.
“They all have problems with delivery and one thing they can’t all deliver on is water and sanitation,” he told the Sunday Times.
“We have taken a line and we are making ourselves clear that the delivery of water and sanitation is a constitutional matter — it is our constitutional mandate and no minister can stand aside and say, ‘talk to the municipalities about the matter’.”
“We are not going to allow any incapacity to delay us, no municipality will be allowed to delay and derail us, we will [speak] directly to the citizens of the country while they are battling. We will bypass [any municipality] if there is any infighting rather than disrupting the essential service.”
Mchunu said SA’s myriad water and sanitation issues are exacerbated by a lack of capacity in his department, incomplete projects and a lack of a sanitation framework.
“I’m concerned about sanitation in schools — in all of the provinces,” he said, adding that the first provinces needing intervention are Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, where children have drowned in pit latrines.
“And there is a thing called the bucket system. There are thousands of them in Gqeberha, 10,000 in the Free State and 5,000 in the Northern Cape. That’s a major concern, just on sanitation.”
Mchunu, who was appointed last month, said that during his orientation at the department he found many officials in acting positions, which affects its functioning.
“There are a number of projects we plan but then midway there is an escalation either of the budget or time,” he said, adding that often sanitation or water projects are not planned appropriately, leaving “some incomplete for a long time and others get completed after several reviews”.
But arguably the biggest challenge is the lack of a sanitation framework.
“As an example, there is something called VIP toilets. When I asked what that means, they said it meant ‘ventilated improved pit latrine’. I said if we hold on to this concept it means we think this is the best form because it is ‘improved’. So, I asked them to drop ‘improved’ and just say ventilated pit toilets.
“I asked, who of you in the department uses these toilets? — None.”
Mchunu said what is needed is a framework that deals with the large proportion of citizens apparently condemned to using non-waterborne sanitation while many others enjoy flushing toilets.
“The absence of framework means you’re working but can’t even count milestones,” he said.
The pressure is on for Mchunu.
Operation Vulindlela, an initiative between the presidency and National Treasury to accelerate the implementation of structural reforms to support economic recovery, has identified 19 priority reforms which include water and sanitation.
Besides improving water licensing processes and fixing water pricing, Mchunu’s department needs to address institutional inefficiencies in municipal water and sanitation services by December this year.
Mchunu said the heavily polluted Vaal River system was of great concern and that broken pump stations in the Free State were being repaired. Plans to fix broken wastewater treatment plants in the area were finalised last week, he added.